Ventilated siding



Feb. 18, 1958 M. E. DUNLAP VENTILATED SIDING 2 Sheets-Shea Filed April 10. 195:5

M. E.DUNLAP' ATTORNEY Feb. 18, 1958 DUNLAP 2,823,426

119d April 10. l 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 HILIQHHHHJJHJU' WWW WWW MAM/WW WWW mum/mm 7 W W T WAW/X MWJ NNNNNN OR M.E.DUNLAP ATTORNEY United States Patent 2,823,426 VENTILATED SIDING Matthew E. Dunlap, Madison, Wis. Application April 10, 1953, Serial No. 348,145 1 Claim. (Cl. 20-5) (Granted under Title 35, U. S. Code (1952), sec. 266) A non-exclusive, irrevocable, royalty-free license in the invention herein described, for all governmental purposes, throughout the world, with the power to grant sublicenses for such purposes, is hereby granted to the Government of the United States of America.

I hereby dedicate the invention herein described to the free use of the people in the territory of the United States to take effect on the granting of a patent to me.

This invention relates to the construction of outside walls of a building or similar structure, and more particularly to the surface element exposed to the weather. It relates also to a novel composite board for use in forming the exposed surface of outside walls of frame buildings, said board being shaped so as to be especially adapted to shed water by forming lapped joints with the boards above and below and also provided with a plurality of small tubate gas passages integral with the structure of the board, and situated so as to conduct gases or vapors from the protected side to the weather side of the building wall. It relates further to a novel composite siding which performs the usual functions of Weatherboard type siding, and in addition, provides an easy and positive means of escape for water vapor from the inner structure of the walls.

The surface element of a building wall, particularly frame buildings, performs two functions (1) to keep out rain and wind, and (2) to provide a decorative or pleasing surface. A third function, much to be desired, is to provide a means of breaking the tight seal formed by paint and tight joints, so as to permit the escape of water which may be lodged in the interior of the wall by ingress as water vapor or by leakage as from roof ice dams. Moisture in walls of heated buildings or structures moves toward the outside surface, and this invention affords a means for releasing this moisture, thus preventing the blistering of paint and attendant impairment of its'protective capacity and appearance.

The invention may be more readily understood by reference to the accompanying drawings.

Figure l is a vertical section of the wall structure made with the novel composite board showing the arrangement of the air passages.

Figure 2 is an elevation of the sheathing side or that side opposite the weather side showing the passage openings which communicate with the wall.

Figure 3 is a view of a portion of the bottom edge of the board showing the ends of the passages leading to the outside.

Referring in more detail to Figure l, the novel board of this invention consists of two main parts. They are a facing or weather shield 1, which may be rather thin, and a tubate section which contains a plurality of passages forming tubular communications between the sheathing side 3 and the bottom edge 4 of the board.

The weather shield may be of any relatively thin weather resistant material such as wood veneer covered with treated paper overlays on each side as at 5. It may also be constructed of hardboard, sheet metal or wood. The outer surface may be painted or otherwise covered with a preservative and/or decorative coating, or as in the case of sheet aluminum or galvanized iron, it may be left uncoated.

The tubate section may consist of a resin-treated corrugated paper section formed of alternate layers of cor- Patented; Feb. 18, 1958 rugated paper 7 and flat sheets 8 of Figures 2 and 3. A similar structure may be obtained by substituting corrugated sheet metal and flat sheet metal for the corresponding paper sheets. Alternatively, the passageways may be provided in the tubate section by the use of any of a wide variety of laminated or extruded plastic or metal forms, as will readily occur to those skilled in the art.

In actual use the wall structure embodying this invention may comprise the novel composite boards 10, nailed or otherwise aliixed to conventional sheathing material 11, which may be wood or fiberboard. If the character of the installation so requires, a sheet of permeable building paper 12 may be placed between the siding boards and the sheathing. This building paper sheet is not usually necessary where the sheathing is of fiberboard. The remaining structural features of the wall may consist of an air space at 13, insulation material 14, plaster base 15 and plaster 16. Moisture lodged in the Wall will migrate to the sheathing, and in mild weather will escape to the outside through the open tubes as illustrated by the dotted lines in the figure.

A preferred method of manufacture is to lay up alternate layers of corrugated and flat elements of paper or other material which are glued or otherwise bonded into a block of suitable size which is approximately one and one-half times the thickness of the desired finished board at its maximum thickness and may be any convenient length and width. The blocks are then cut into proper widths and the weather shield elements glued or otherwise fixed in place. The blocks are then cut diagonally. As shown in the figure, the placing of the weather shields should provide for a narrow drip section as at 22. After cutting diagonally, the overlap recess 23 is then cut and the boards may be cut into suitable lengths and are ready for use.

The width of the novel composite boards, and their thickness are not critical, except that the thickness should be sufficient to provide substantial width of the lower edge containing the exposed ends of the passageways. Wide shadow lines which are often favored for architectural effect may be attained with a minimum consumption of materials when using these novel boards.

In addition to providing a positive means of escape for moisture from the walls, this invention also provides improved thermal insulation.

I claim:

A composite lap type siding board having a weather side, a sheathing side, a top edge, and an exposed bottom edge comprising: an outer weatherand moisture-resistant weather shield on said weather side; and an inner tubate section contiguous with and substantially coextensive with the weather shield, said tubate section comprising a plurality of alternate layers of flat and corrugated sheets so disposed as to provide a series of unobstructed passageways substantially parallel to the weather shield and extending from the bottom edge to the top edge, the thickness of the tubate section being greater at the bottom edge than at the top edge, the thickness decreasing in the direction of the top edge at such an angle as to provide each of said passageways with an opening in the sheathing side.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 27,872 Walcott Apr. 10, 1860 52,004 Sherman Jan. 9, 1866 676,183 Ferres June 11, 1901 2,192,810 Angier Mar. 5, 1940 2,256,435 Kraus Sept. 16, 1941 2,308,766 Martinus Jan. 19, 1943 2,358,550 Williams Sept. 19, 1944 2,403,318 Weseman July 2, 1946 

